Ginger Peanut Rice Bowl (kinda like at...Rumbi Island Grill)

(Okay, so I stole that picture off of the Rumbi Island Grill website.......)

So, as Steve and I were eating a salad with that ginger salad dressing on it, Steve commented that it reminded him of the flavors in one of those rice bowls at Rumbi Island Grill. So, of course, then I HAD to figure out a way to make that! So... I pretty much just altered some other recipes I had, did a little experimenting, and ended up with what we thought was very good! Give it a try.

For the rice:
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed

Put the rice, coconut milk, broth, and water in a pot with a lid. As it starts to get to a boil, you're gonna need to stir it because it's going to be a little thick with that coconut milk in it. You don't want it to all goo to the bottom and burn! So, once it is boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer, put the lid on and let the rice cook, stirring occassionally to ensure all is well. Once all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, add in the beans (make sure they are drained and rinsed first). Mix those in and let them heat through. And there you have it, island coconut red beans and rice.

Other Ingredients:

broccoli or asparagus, cut into bite size pieces

celery, choped

carrots, sliced thin

red bell pepper, choped

zucchini, sliced


Chicken breasts

For the chicken:

You could do this a few different ways.....

1) Marinate some chicken breasts in some left over ginger salad dressing then grill it up or cook on the stove top in a skillet. Then cut it into bite size pieces.

or

2)Cut up some chicken breasts into pieces. Pour some left over ginger salad dressing into a large skillet. Add the chicken pieces, and brown them up and cook them through. Add more of the dressing during the cooking process if needed, enough that all the chicken is coated in a little of it.
or
3)If you don't happen to just have any leftover dressing, you don't need to marinate the chicken or anything. You will put sauce on it in the end anyway. It's up to you. Or you could just marinate it in a little soy sauce and oil or something.

Set the chicken aside, then add all the veggies to the large skillet along with more of the ginger dressing and saute until desired doneness. (You don't really HAVE to add any dressing in the cooking process. As stated before, you will put sauce on it in the end). I suggest putting the carrots and celery in first, cooking those for a little bit, then add the others because they don't seem to take as long. Put the lid on for a little bit if you want them to get steamed a bit.

When you're ready to eat, plate up some of the red beans and rice, put some chicken and veggies on that, and top it all off with some ginger peanut sauce (NOT exactly the same as the ginger dressing......recipe below) and chopped peanuts!

Ginger Peanut Sauce:

This is a slight variation on the ginger dressing recipe. It omits a lot of the oil and uses more peanut butter, resulting in a thicker, more sauce-like consistency.

1 tsp oil (vegetable or canola)

1 to 2 teaspoons chili oil-- (once again... add it to your desired heat)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar (I use the seasoned rice vinegar, because that's what I have)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger (FRESH ginger is so good! don't use the dried stuff!)

3 to 4 Tablespoons of peanut butter

Beat with a wire wisk until smooth (add peanut butter a tablespoon at a time, beating and adding more until reaches desired consistency and taste). Heat in the microwave or in a pot on the stove until heated through. Stir. Put on top of the rice bowls!

Ginger Salad Dressing

OOOOOOHHHHH..... this is so good.......


1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)

1 to 2 teaspoons chili oil-- you buy this in the oriental section of the grocery store, usually (probably start out using less if you're not sure how spicy you want it... you can always add more if you taste it and decide you want more. Or if you know you don't like heat, you could just make it without)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar (I use the seasoned rice vinegar, because that's what I have)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger (FRESH ginger is so good! don't use the dried stuff!)

optional: 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon (???maybe more....?..or less....?) of peanut butter (the dressing is good without the peanut butter, too, but I like it with a little peanut butter in it because it adds a bit more body and helps the dressing emulsify better... oh, and it tastes good. I pretty much just add it until it tastes how I want it...)


Mix all those ingredients together well and use for various different things!


Once I used it on top of some salmon.... that was quite tasty. You can put in on top of just a normal salad. Delicious.

If you want to try a SUPER GOOD salad.... try the following:



Ingredients:

Romaine Lettuce

Spinach

Strawberries, sliced (or cut in chunks or whatever)

Green Onions, chopped

Candied Pecans (recipe below)

Pork Loin

When we make this salad, we usually just put out all the different components and let people put together their own salad according to their liking. Then, top it with the ginger dressing. Soooo good. Last time my mom tried hers with some mandarin oranges on it as well. I didn't try it, but I bet that would be good too.


For the pork, just cut the loin into about 1/4 inch medalions, season with a little salt and pepper, then cook those up in a frying pan. Then, you can slice those medalions into smaller strips to put on the salad. Don't overcrowd the medalions in the pan, or they won't get that good color on them. You might need to do a couple batches.


For the pecans you're gonna need:

1 cup Pecan Halves
and

1/2 cup Maple Syrup (whatever you have around that you put on your pancakes and waffles!)


All you do is put a skillet on the stove over medium-low to medium heat and put the pecans in. Pour in the syrup and stir to coat all the nuts. Heat the mixture for several minutes, stirring often. The syrup will bubble and get thicker and thicker. Make sure you don't let it get so hot that it scorches. Keep stirring. You'll notice the syrup getting more and more sticky. Stir! As soon as the mixture is to the point that it's like.... "hard"sticky..... take the nuts out of the pan and put them on a large plate. You'll want to separate them while they are still hot/warm otherwise they will harden and you'll just have one big chunk of candied nuts! Allow them to cool before using them. It might take a couple times to get to where your pecans are the perfect doneness.... my first time I didn't quite cook them long enough, and they were still kind of chewy and not quite.... "crunchy" candied. But, they were still good.

California Chicken Spaghetti

This dish is super tasty and super simple!

INGREDIENTS
16 ounces uncooked angel hair pasta (I NEVER use that much pasta in it.... you probably don't need to cook that much. I'll tell you more about that later)
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons dried basil (this last time we used fresh basil because there is an abundance of it growing in the back yard... and I ended up adding more than 2 Tablespoons with it fresh)
2 tablespoons Cajun-style blackened seasoning (depending on what brand of seasoning you buy...it can end up a little spicy! If you don't want to buy cajun seasoning (or if you don't want it so spicy), go to the bottom of this post for a suggested way to make your own seasoning.
salt and pepper to taste
10 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced

1 zucchini sliced
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 5 to 8 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken pieces, and cook, stirring until browned on the outside. Stir in the garlic, basil, Cajun seasoning, salt, and pepper, then mix in the tomatoes and zucchini. Cook until tomatoes are semi soft, and chicken is cooked through.

Toss with pasta, and serve with crumbled feta cheese on top. Also top with fresh basil if desired.

Okay, so my suggestion with mixing it with the pasta.... Don't just throw all the noodles in at once because odds are you won't end up with the right sauce to pasta ratio.... What I do, is dump all the sauce into an big pot or big serving bowl, then slowly add in the noodles in batches, mixing after each batch, until it looks like a good sauce to noodle ratio. I don't like there to be so many noodles that you don't get much flavor. The recipe says 16 ounces... I don't think I even use half of that. But, hey, it's up to you

If you want to make your own seasoning, this one works well. It is actually a "creole" seasoning recipe, but it is quite close to cajun and has pretty much the same ingredients in it! So, if you already have these ingredients on hand, you can mix up your own seasoning rather than buying a "Cajun Seasoning" at the store. Just mix it up and keep it in an airtight container. You can use it for all sorts of stuff. This makes quite a bit, so if you don't think you want so much, just half it.

Cajun/Creole Seasoning:

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

NOTE: If you want similar flavor without as much heat, make this recipe, but don't use so much cayenne pepper. That's where most of your heat is going to come from.

Culinary Experimentation

Sometimes Steve and I like to experiment. A couple weeks ago we decided to make foil dinners-- you know, wrap up some meat and potatoes and whatever else you want in some foil and cook it. A simple concept. But, why not kick it up a bit... make a bit of a more... gourmet foild dinner, if you will. Here is what we came up with. And we must say... it is quite good! We've made it again since then.
Unfortunately I don't really have exact measurements. This is one of those things you have to just kind of... put in however much you want of each thing! I'm going to share with you the ingredients, and you can decide what proportions and quantities you want to do.

Here is what was in it:

Ground Italian Sausage (Mild or hot depending on your heat preference) formed into a patty.
A slice of Bacon (put this on the very top)
Cloves of Garlic sliced
Onions sliced
Yukon Gold Potatoes sliced
Carrots sliced

Fresh Basil
Salt

and the secret ingredient.......

That's right folks. Blue Cheese.

Now, don't go judging just because it says blue cheese. I'll be honest, I am not a huge blue cheese fan normally.... but this.... is really good!!! The cheese just melts into it and mixes with the juices from the meat and bacon drippings and the moisture from the vegetables and creates a delicious sauce! Very good. Try it for yourself.... come on... don't be scared....

Walkabout Onion Soup

So, Steve and I used to get this soup at Outback Steakhouse. It was a creamy, onion soup. Very tasty. Unfortunately, they don't serve it there anymore.... but luckily, we had already found a good recipe for it. I know it isn't exactly soup weather right now... but I always love soup! And we hadn't had this for a while, so we made it this week. If you like onions... you'll like this! If you don't like onions.... well..... try it anyway! Maybe it will convert you.


Ingredients:

2 cups thinly sliced yellow sweet onions (ie. vidalia)

2 tbsp butter

14.5 ounce can chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

2 chicken boullion cubes

1/4 cup diced velveeta cubes compressed in a measuring cup (okay, so sometimes I use this processed, velveeta cheese, but sometimes I just use regular shredded cheddar cheese. I usually use more than 1/4 cup if I use the cheddar though.... almost 1/2 cup)


1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups white sauce (below) Okay, so it only says to use that amount... but I always end up using all of it. Mostly just because I always forget that it says to only use a certain amount!!! Anyway... if you want to use all the white sauce, go for it! it always turns out fine when I do.

Thick White Sauce:

3TBS butter

3TBS flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk (I have used milks ranging from skim to cream here, so.... if you don't feel like buying whole milk... use whatever you've got. it'll be alright.)


Instructions:

To make the White Sauce....

In a 1 quart sauce pan, melt butter and add flour, cook on medium heat until the flour turns thick and comes away from the side of the pan.

Pour milk in flour a little at a time and stir constantly until it becomes smooth. Add salt. Mixture should thicken and becom like thick pudding.

Remember to stir constantly taking care not to let mixture lump. Set aside off from heat until ready to use for the soup.

In 2 quart sauce pan place 2 TBS butter and sliced onions.

Cook at low to medium heat, stirring frequently until soft, and clear but not brown.
Add chicken broth from can, chicken bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, and stir until completely heated through.

Add white sauce and Velveeta cheese (or cheddar). White sauce will be thick because it has been removed from the heat. Simmer on medium low heat until the cheese is melted and all ingredients are blended, stirring constantly. (If you're using cheddar, be sure not to let the soup come to a boil after you've added the cheese, as this could cause it to curdle).
Turn temperature to warm and let cook for additional 30 to 45 minutes. (It says to do this.... but, I usually don't leave it that long... just because I'm too hungry..... but, again, I've done it both ways. Both turn out just fine).

Serve with some crusty bread. You could also top the soup with some shredded cheddar cheese if you wanted.

"Spicy" Rice

This is a great rice to go with that Fiesta Lime Chicken. It says spicy, but don't be mislead. It is not spicy in the sense of "wow, that's got some heat!" It is spicy as in.... it's got spices in it.

Ingredients:

1 fresh corn cob

3 tbsp. olive oil

6 scallions (green onions) chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1-2 green bell peppers, chopped

2 fresh mild green chilies (anaheims are good), seeded and chopped

generous 1 1/4 cups long-grain rice

2 tsp ground cumin

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

salt and pepper

Directions:

Cut the corn from the cob. heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the scallions, celery, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened (be sure not to burn your garlic! burnt garlic tastes bitter...yuck...). Add the bell peppers, chilies, and corn and cook for 3-5 minutes.

Add the rice and cumin and cook, stirring to coat the grains in the oil for 2 minutes.

Stir in the stock and half the chopped cilantro and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes, or until nearly all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is just tender.

Remove from the heat and fluff up with a fork. Stir in the remaining chopped cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand, covered, for 5 minutes before serving.

"Fiesta" Lime Chicken

Okay, so just before we moved we went to Applebee's with Steve's parents. Steve's mom got the Fiesta Lime Chicken and said she wished she knew how they made it. I made it my duty to try to find a recipe that copied it.... unfortunately it has been a while since I actually had that dish at Applebee's, so I'm not sure whether this actually tastes anything like it or not! But, it is good none-the-less. Worth trying.

I did think it had a strange combination of ingredients before I made it... I mean, it says "fiesta" in the name, then it's got teriyaki sauce in it! I dunno, maybe mexicans use more teriyaki than I am aware of : ) Or maybe it's an asian/mexican fiesta! Fun for all! Either way.... the dish was pretty tasty. Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients. It is very simple to make. And I actually already had all of these ingredients on hand except the teriyaki sauce and the liquid smoke.

What is liquid smoke? Well, I'm glad you asked. It does sound a bit strange to anyone who's never heard of it. In fact one time my dad (I think it was my dad) was at Walmart and he asked one of the employees (a teenager no doubt) whether they had any liquid smoke. And the kid is like, "...ummm.... Liquid smoke? You mean like beer?" hahaha..... Oh boy.... Anyway, no... liquid smoke is not beer just incase you were wondering. It is, in fact, just what the name says..... smoke in liquid form! What they do is create smoke with some water and wood chips or something then they gather the condensation that is infused with the smoke. (Okay, so that is the very simplified version, but who cares). And there you have it! Liquid smoke. So, you get the smoke flavor without the unhealthy carcinogens! (and without having to do the work of smoking). I found my liquid smoke near the barbeque sauces and marinades and what-not.... It probably depends what store you're at. You can probably ask an employee at the store. Then again.... they might take you to the beer isle....

Okay, enough about the smoke... lets get to the chicken.

Ingredients

Marinade:

about 1 cup water

1/3 cup teriyaki sauce

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

Dressing:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon milk

2 teaspoons minced tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons minced jalapeno peppers

1 teaspoon minced onion

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 dash black pepper

1 dash garlic powder

Additional Ingredients

1 cup shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend

More limes to squeeze over the top.

Directions

1 Combine marinade ingredients then chicken in a medium bowl and allow to marinate for 2-3 hours.

2 Combinine dressing ingredients in a medium bowl, cover, and chill until needed.

3 Grill the marinated chicken breasts for 3-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through.

4 Arrange the cooked chicken in a baking pan, spoon some of the prepared dressing over the top , and sprinkle with cheese.

5 Broil the chicken for 2-3 minutes, or just until the cheese has melted.

6 Squeeze fresh lime juice over the top and serve!

You could serve this with spanish rice and some pico de gallo or salsa.... some tortilla chips..... home made guacamole.... mmm... My plan was to top it with pico de gallo (fresh chopped tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime), but unfortunately only one of my tomatoes was alive today.... the rest were covered in mold!!!

Note to self: it is much more humid in Ohio.... especially with no AC yet....... so, must find a better way to store my tomatoes......